India: OMC keeps base price unchanged for upcoming iron ore auction

Odisha's leading miner - Odisha Mining Corp (OMC) has scheduled its next iron ore e-auction on 10th Mar'21. The miner has kept the base price-stable against the last e-auction conducted on 7th Jan'21. The material put under the hammer is from Gandhamardan, Daitari, Tiring Pahar, Guali, and Jilling mines.

The miner has reduced the offered quantity to 882,000 t against the company's earlier notified quantity of 1.14 mnt.

Summary of OMC iron ore fines e-auction to be held on 10 Mar'21

Base prices in INR/t on an ex-mines basis; including royalty
Source: SteelMint Research

Guali and Jilling-Langalota were given over to OMC by the government after the respective bidders JSPL and Shyam Ores, Jharkhand, failed to commence operations due to disputes and other constraints. This was in the backdrop of iron ore supply shortage in the country due to the non-operationalization of auctioned mines in Odisha. The mines have a combined EC limit of 12 mn t/year. It is believed that OMC will reserve around 70% of the minerals extracted for fulfilling long-term contracts and could put the rest for sale at auctions.

Odisha - India's largest iron ore producing state produced 12.05 mn t in Jan'21, up marginally as against 11.86 mn t in Dec'20, according to the provisional data of the Odisha Govt.

SteelMint's index for Odisha iron ore fines (Fe 62%) index stands at INR 5,150/t (ex-mines, including Royalty, DMF & NMET), down by INR 350/t m-o-m.